


The Storm

by ukulele_villian



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst, Dream Sharing, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/M, Force Visions, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Platonic Romance, Snoke is space scum, bottle episode antics, save my space children please
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-26
Updated: 2016-04-26
Packaged: 2018-06-04 14:32:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6662605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ukulele_villian/pseuds/ukulele_villian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The storm had forced them to seek shelter together. Now, whatever cosmic entity pulling the strings began to think that placing the two enemies into such close proximity for survival was even funnier.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Storm

The storm had forced them to seek shelter together. Now, whatever cosmic entity pulling the strings began to think that placing the two enemies into such close proximity for survival was even funnier. 

They sat back to back. When they were this close the Force did strange things. Even now sitting so near him, Rey could feel electricity sparking through their energy. 

He wore his mask while in their small cave. It was unnecessary and made Rey want to spin around from her sitting position and rip it from his head. 

As she begrudgingly leaned against his back she felt his whole body shudder and shake. He kept trying to move away from her. Rey defiantly shoved herself closer. The two for a minute played a childish game of lean and shove. 

"What's your issue ?" Rey fumed. 

Ren abruptly paused and decided silence was the best response. He wouldn't even turn his head to acknowledge her. Rey could do the same. She planted her back firmly to his and refused to turn while speaking. 

Rey was scathing. Touching him was bad enough, but his pompous attitude made things drastically worse.

"Let me guess; you don't want to soil your 'lavish' robes being touched by the likes of a scavenger."

His breathing was the only response. Minutes marched by before finally Ren positioned himself to turn and semi face her.

"The Supreme Leader has forbidden me from physical contact in this form." 

Rey paused. She took in the comment and was shocked by how telling it was. He hadn't needed to share this and if it was a lie then what would he have to gain from it ?

"How are you supposed to fight if you aren't allowed to touch someone ?" 

Ren quickly countered "It's contact of this nature. I don't need to touch my enemies, my capacity to use the force eliminates physical contact, unlike you and your backwater brawling skills"

She smirked for a moment at the comment towards her fighting ability. She had clocked him in the nose at one point during a fight.

"So what you mean is any contact involving gentleness..." Rey filled in the gaps to his explanation. 

Rey was incredulous towards these slow realizations about his life. Still, she had an odd curiosity in her. Her training with Luke had warned her of the darkside and its tantalizing aspects, but what could be appealing about strict adherence to something so emotionally limiting and restraining. She couldn't understand. 

"Of course you can't even begin to conceive the reasons for my choices and life."

"Get out of my head" she spit.

"Try not to broadcast your thoughts so vividly then. You're worse than a personal soundboard." 

She couldn't deny that last remark. Luke had told her the same thing. She had never had to guard her thoughts before, but now, because of the monster sitting next to her and countless other threats that hunted the remaining force users, she couldn't even have her own mind to herself. Nothing belonged to her anymore.

"As a Jedi nothing will ever belong to you." He commented as the last depressing thought left her head. "The doctrine of the Jedi is impossible to abide by, it will weaken you, perhaps even destroy someone like you." 

"Maybe if you spoke less like a protocol droid and more like a man I could take you seriously." Her words lost their bite as she spoke. She didn't even feel like yelling at him again for entering her head. His voice through the modulator made him sound robotic and similar to an actual droid lecturing her. Communicating with him was draining and frustrating. 

The cold bit at her skin and Rey found to her disgust that she kept having to use Ren as a heater. She wanted to rest somehow, but there was no way she could do that in the presences of a murderer.

"I will give you my cloak if you can acquiesce to silencing your thoughts and not trying to slice my throat while I sleep." Ren's tone had turned very business like. It assured Rey he at least was uncomfortable as well but also that the gesture did not come out of kindness.

"Fine, but we both keep our sabers and I'm going to the opposite side of the cave. I don't need your body heat." 

"As you wish." He stood and removed his cloak to drape around her shoulders. One swift motion and she was enveloped in black cloth, goosebumps filled her arms. She didn't think he would do that, she had instead expected him to dump his cloak to the floor for her to grab. His actions felt almost gentlemanly.

Her mind rebelled at the idea of Kylo Ren acting any other way besides cruel. This man was so confusing. 

She moved to the opposite side of the cave and slumped down with her back to him. She wanted him to think she was confident enough to rest at ease in his presence. 

She laid down and attempted to meditate but something kept gnawing at her brain. What had Kylo Ren meant when he said that the Jedi code would destroy her ? It had to be more of his lies. More temptation from the dark. 

Her curiosity finally bested her. 

"What did you mean; the Jedi code would destroy me." Rey whispered, she almost didn't want him to hear. 

To Rey's surprise he answered, 

"Your potential will not be maximized under the scrutiny of Luke Skywalker. You are unconventional and the light will attempt to smother and bend you." 

"I've heard this from you before."  
His mantra describing her training revolved around how it made her weak. Similar taunts always filled their fights. 

Ren sighed in exasperation. He was acting like she was a child who couldn't grasp a simple concept. Rey couldn't wait to escape this maddening cave. 

Ren continued, "You're frivolous care for the trait-"

"His name is Finn !" 

"Your trivial companionship with...Finn-", he spat out Finn's name like it was a swear, "is considered a hindrance in the dead world of the Jedi. Your snarling attitude would have made you a liability to them, and not to mention you've been tainted by anger. Don't deny it." 

"What...?!" Rey was seeing red. 

Ren's voice through the filtered mask rose like a crescendo. He knew he had hit something within her. 

"Han Solo would have retracted his offer of mentorship if he had known you were force sensitive, General Organa will fear you when she realizes what you're capable of, and Skywalker will cast you aside when he sees that you have experienced the dar-" 

"Shut your mouth !" Rey screamed. 

Her yell echoed through the cave. He didn't continue and now sat as still and silent as a statue. 

Rey sat in a fetal position. She rocked back and forth. She hadn't known his comments would have such an impact. Instantly she wanted to take back her request for an explanation. 

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Ren began to speak again. 

"The darkside can aid you. " 

Rey didn't want to hear it. She curled around herself tighter. 

"I promise, it can help you be strong enough to destroy any obstacle; emotional or physical." 

"Will it help me destroy you ?!" Rey whipped around to face him and now she was standing. She couldn't take it anymore. She was a second away from pulling her light saber out. Ren sensed this. He was taken aback, he mustn't have known he could push her this far. She nearly laughed at how he suddenly was scared.

So, he took a route which had disarmed her successfully before, he reached for the latches of his mask and removed it.

"The Supreme Leader will see your worth, just as I see your worth. You're wasting your potential." 

The reveal of his face for the second time in her life was just as drastic as the first. The scar she had given him was prominent, but so were the extreme dark circles surrounding his eyes. His hair looked more disheveled as well. He stood up from his sitting position to match her height, but the look of defiance Rey wore assured her she was in control. 

His real voice sounded quiter. Rey had been positive that his words were solely to manipulate her but now seeing his face and knowing his actual tone, she came to a more frightening revelation; he hadn't intended to inflict damage just then. He believed every word to its core. She could feel it in his mind. 

 

His mask had distorted more than his voice. Had it been coincidence that he had listed his family as those who would betray her ? 

 

"I could show you. I know the Force, my offer still stands." Ren kept clenching while speaking. 

He earnestly wanted her to understand something. What Ren was trying to convey, Rey couldn't guess. He was giving her the same look he had during their first battle.  
They stared at each other tensely till Rey broke her gaze and began to move away, she didn't care what he believed. She didn't want his help. 

Ren began to reach for her arm while she moved away, just brushing it, and a spark passed through them. 

She stopped. Rey couldn't turn to face him again, no, there was too much going on in such a small space. He had just barely touched her arm and yet there it had been again, the same force energy. Her eyes were wide and she wanted so desperately for him to not have felt the force spark just then, he had though. It was frightening her, and worse was that Kylo Ren felt horrified and confused too. 

She quickly moved away breaking their contact and leaving Ren dumbfounded, standing in the middle of the cave. 

"I'm resting. I don't care what you do now." Rey murmured, this whole encounter was strange and she just wanted it to be over. 

"Of course." Ren sounded disappointed.

Rey watched him lower his gaze to the ground. His fists were still clenching and unclenching continuously. Finally, after a moment of contemplation, he moved from the spot and went back over to his side. 

Rey glanced over to see him begin to lay on his back, head turned away from her 

Surprisingly, Rey eventually fell asleep. 

\---------------

Rey knew immediately when she was dreaming. Her dreams moved like apparitions, never had she been able to recreate the clarity of her first Force vision.

Except tonight the dream vision seemed to be growing in its tangibility. Rey begins to encounter a room and frighteningly she can touch the objects around her, she can hear small noises, such as the sounds of bugs outside a window during night.  
How real it all is sends sensations that only she as a force sensitive individual can recognize. 

Ahead lies a boy wide awake in his room. He can't be more than ten. 

Rey knows who he is instantly because of the mop of dark curls that lay on his damp forehead like wilting flowers. He's hyperventilating and sweating profusely. 

She can feel his panic and she walks over to see his eyes darting every which way. He rolls over to look at the ceiling. 

"Do not be afraid." A foreign voice coaxes. 

Rey and Ben feel goosebumps roll down their spine.

"You've never been fearful before. Have you forgotten the many gifts I've given you ?"

The voice practically purrs and Rey is reminded of every time Unkarr Plutt would 'encourage' her scavenging. 

Ben knows what the voice means by gifts. His thoughts begin to bleed into Rey's head giving her context to the situation. 

He had been so lonely and the nightmares had been too difficult to stop that night, his abilities had made the whole room shake. So, he had let the whispers in because of desperation and they had done something no one else had done before, they had encouraged him. The praise was euphoric, he had always seen his powers as a curse till he let the voice in. He relished in what was given, not exactly love, but close enough. Then it had begun to send physical gifts, proving its existence was real. A cowl scarf with a hood attached had come for him in the mail one day anonymously. He wore it everywhere, a proud reminder that someone out there was watching and caring for him. 

The voice explained the nightmares, it showed him why every time he laughed the lights in their home flickered, it even told him about the mysterious grandfather whom everyone secretly compared him to. The voice told him that he was going to be useful and that he was crucial in the fate of the Galaxy. 

Except these gifts and lessons were not free. Tonight he couldn't do it, his mind was too broken and each time he gave in a little he felt something slip away. 

"It pains me to do this but you leave me no choice." The voice sounds so disappointed that Ben feels tears began to fall down his cheeks. He can't lose the voice's favor, who will be his friend after the voice leaves ? Who will comfort him and reaffirm that even though so many despise him there is still someone who understands ? Who will love him after this ? 

Rey feels all these thoughts and feelings. It's almost like they are her own. She shudders remembering how nights on Jakku were filled with taunts too. Except, she had no coaxing voice. The only whispers she ever heard were her own, her own doubts, her own fears, and her own loneliness. 

Suddenly a ripple and a tug and Ben feels his guts being torn apart. He tries to scream but can't open his mouth. Fire then consumes his head and images flash to quickly through his mind. He convulses as if trying to escape the hands of a thousand assailants. 

Rey feels it all too. She sinks to her knees. This pain is indescribable. Rey finds no issue in screaming. 

"Now, are you a little more willing ?" the voice inquires and Ben sits up in bed, shaking. His head is lowered to his chest and Rey notices he looks ashamed. 

"I know what I have to do. I don't think I can do it. The visions have been getting worse and mother and father have been-" Ben can't finish his sentence he's sobbing and hiccuping. 

The voice interrupts like a parent ready to quell a silly boy's superstitions of the future, "My child, I've seen. Do not think I don't sympathize with you." 

Ben feels the invisible force cup his face in cold hands, he leans into it enjoying the small comfort. Rey feels the sensation on her face too and wants to throw up. 

"My boy, everything will make sense soon. I know their judgement can be scathing, but soon the pain will be merely a tool. This is your destiny. Your grandfather would be so proud of your progress thus far. If not for me being here in his absence, I'm sure you would be under his tutelage." 

Ben blinks a few times and wipes his eyes. He has never met his grandfather but he's heard stories and knows what must be done. Ben steels himself for what will come next. 

Rey watches with horror as he leaves his bed and heads to the dining area of his home. He enters a kitchen and expectantly awaits the orders of the voice. 

"The stove shall suffice" The voice speaks mundanely. 

"No !" Rey screams. She expects exactly what's going to happen. Leia had once told her that Ben had been brainwashed, Rey could remember thinking that Leia had used that excuse as a form of self comfort and denial. Rey now knows Leia was absolutely right. 

Rey is helpless to watch Snoke order Ben around to harm himself. She closes her eyes a few times she can't watch. Finally, the 'lesson' takes a turn. 

"The knives, find a carving knife and draw blood." The voice orders.

Ben's arms are burnt and raw. He's been able to use his abilities to accomplish feats such as lift the stove, find the location of his father, and now he's getting close to unlocking the secrets of the mind through Force control. 

Ben finds a butchers knife and begins to carve his arm up, he isn't scared now. The high of power and the euphoria of praise from the voice fuels him. 

Then suddenly the lights in the kitchen come on. 

"Ben !?"

Rey's breath is taken away. It's General Organa. It's Leia in her night wear, bleary eyed and not in her typical authoritative setting, but Rey thinks that this woman could command from her fuzzy slippers and still be a queen. She's so much younger, chiseled by the horrors of war, but not yet heartbroken. 

"Oh Ben, oh Ben, oh Ben-" she's retching the knife from him and roughly grabbing his arms to examine the damage. She is panicking unsure what to do.

Ben can't comprehend what's happening, he's slowly coming out of a connection, a dream almost, and he hadn't thought Leia was home tonight. He just stands there numb letting his mother examine him. 

"C-3PO ! medical kit, I need a medical kit now !" Leia grabs Ben by the shoulders and is leading her dazed son to the other room. She deposits him on to the sofa and watches the golden droid fuss over Ben's wounds. He numbly sits there and lets the droid tend to his arms. 

Rey feels Ben's disconnect, everything is foggy and his head hurts terrifically. He's been roughly ripped from a session in the dark arts and the lights are too bright. What's worse is he feels his mother's fear and frustration. She looks down upon him, disappointed and frightened. He can't face her gaze anymore so he opts to stare at the floor. 

"I'm sorry...," Ben mumbles and reaches to run his hands through his hair, "I promise I won't-"

"Ben," Leia pauses and looks away from her son, she crosses her arms and finally finds what she's been trying to say "please go to bed, we'll discuss this in the morning." There is no affection in her voice. 

Rey's chest explodes and so does Ben's. She watches Ben get up and slowly head back to his room. He turns once to apologetically look at his mother. She doesn't watch him go. 

When he lays down, The Voice greets him comfortingly. 

"See ? I warned you, didn't I ?"

"I know...." Ben whispers in the dark to his only friend. "She thinks I'm a monster." 

"Hush, you have done well tonight. Her judgment is none of your concern." 

Ben curls up in on himself. His arms are throbbing and itch. 

"Now, shall we proceed to the next part of the lesson ?" 

Rey hates how The Voice phrases each command in a question. Who is it kidding ? Ben has no say in what happens. 

Ben doesn't even respond as the cold hands begin to flip through the pages of his mind. The intrusion hurts more when Ben resists and now he doesn't have any will to fight tonight after the emotional and physical ordeal of the previous lesson. 

Rey wonders if that's another part of this game it plays with him. Make Ben weaken himself with pain and exhaustion and then romp freely in the boy's head. 

Rey can't take this nightmare any longer. It's a horrible holovid of something that no one could have stopped. To escape she starts to yell and throw the apparition objects that her mind created to represent his old room. 

Rey finally wakes up.

\-------------

She opens her eyes to see him standing at the entrance of the cave. She never realized he doesn't take off his cowl or gloves. In fact, Rey's certain that she's never seen his hands without gloves or his neck uncovered. The dream gives a frightening context to her thoughts. 

"I will be leaving soon." He announces to no one. He doesn't look at her when he makes the comment. All he does is stand with his back to her and stare off into the distance. 

"The Order has sent a ship for me. They will be here soon and I will leave." He reiterates.

"Yeah, and what do you want me to do about it ?" Rey snaps back. 

Rey watches him sigh, put his mask back on, and leave the cave. 

It's not until she's sure he's gone that she remembers that he left his cloak with her.


End file.
